Far-Infrared Magnetospectroscopy (FIRMS)

FIRMS is a version of Electron Magnetic Resonance (EMR) that depends on sweeping the frequency instead of magnetic field, as is the standard in EMR. As such, it is of particular value in determining the zero-field splitting (zfs) of molecules containing paramagnetic transition metal or lanthanide ions. On a more general level, FIRMS is applicable to any chemical/physical electron spin system with zero-field energy gap(s) such as high-spin paramagnets, ferro- or anti-ferromagnets, etc., as long as the gaps appear in the frequency/energy range of the FIRMS spectrometer based on the Fourier-transform far-infrared spectrometers available in the DC field facility (currently 300 GHz – 180 THz or 10 – 6,000 cm–1, far infrared to mid-infrared).